Integrating Sustainability in TVET: The Case of Bangladesh
Foyasal Khan and Fatema Rejwana Khan*
Education is often referred to as the backbone of a nation and considered an important factor for human development. However, recent research has shown that the higher rate of educational attainments have failed to bring more economic output through the labour market. While only schooling cannot increase the cognitive skills essential for employment, the quality of education and its relevance to the labour market is unsubstantial at present. Moreover, the education system has remained unchanged with the labour market demand. In this situation, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) can contribute to a country’s economic growth through increasing productivity by the way of providing highly-skilled human resources. TVET has been given due importance in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by United Nations (UN) countries. Bangladesh, as a UN member and a populous lower middle-income nation, is committed to achieving the SDGs where TVET is expected to play a crucial role by way of widening the skilled labour pool to meet the local and global demand. To this end, various TVET transformation programmes have been undertaken to improve the sector continuously. This paper provides an overview and an analysis of the economic relevance of these programmes.
* Mr Foyasal Khan is a PhD Candidate (Economics) at the International Islamic University, Malaysia. Ms Fatema Rejwana Khan has a Masters in Development Studies from the University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia